Cancer all-clear for mobile phones

A long-term study of Danish mobile phone users has found no increased incidence of cancer.

The study, which was carried out by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, involved a sample size of around 420,000; it included all Danes who had started a subscription to a mobile phone service between 1982 to 1995.

The researchers actually found that mobile users were slightly less likely to get cancers than the general population – though that can be attributed to phone users typically coming from upper-income demographics, which is still one of the most important factors in illness and life expectancy.

Hedging his bets, co-author Prof Joachim Schüz told journalists that the research can’t be seen as definitive – it doesn’t cover the effect of mobile phone use specifically on obvious high-risk groups like children or very heavy users. But Prof Schüz described the results as “providing a very strong message” about whether mobile phones can be linked to cancer.